Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has followed up last week’s release of the game’s big balance update and premium warbond with a new patch that applies a long list of fixes.
The highlight is a fix for the Spear support stratagem, which has suffered all sorts of problems since the PC and PlayStation 5 co-op shooter launched earlier this year. What should be a reliable monster of a weapon has for so long been fickle, with its anti-tank homing missile failing to properly track locked-on targets.
According to the update 1.000.402 patch notes, there’s a fix for the Spear not targeting several entities (spawners, compound objects, etc). This should encourage more players to bring the Spear onto the battlefield.
And here’s another helpful fix: Hellbombs now get called down facing the player, rather than away from the player. Players have got used to Hellbombs facing away from them, so there will be a bit of unlearning to do with this one.
Arrowhead updated the known issues list, too, outlining what the studio is working on fixing with upcoming patches. Of note: the Bile Titan sometimes does not take damage to the head, and the Charger’s butt does not take damage from explosions. What an arse!
Last week was a big one for Helldivers 2 and Arrowhead, which recently revealed it was in the process of setting the studio up so it could “make more and better stuff” in the long-term. In an introductory post on reddit, new CEO Shams Jorjani, who recently replaced previous Arrowhead CEO and now current Chief Creative Officer Johan Pilestedt, said the studio has had to adjust to the enormous success Helldivers 2 has brought to the company.
Helldivers 2 is the fastest-selling PlayStation game of all time, having shifted an incredible 12 million copies in just 12 weeks since going on sale earlier this year. Amid the huge revenue Helldivers 2 has generated, Arrowhead itself has suffered a number of crises, including launch server problems and, most recently, a battle with Sony itself over the console maker’s controversial attempt to force Steam players to account link to PlayStation Network.
Helldivers 2 update 1.000.402 patch notes:
Overview
For this patch, we have made improvements and changes to the following areas:
- Quality of life improvements
- Crash fixes
- General bug fixes
Fixes
Crashes
- Fixed various crashes that would sometimes occur when changing settings.
- Fixed potential crash or corrupted font texture when changing the language
- Fixed a crash that might occur after exiting a mission.
- Fixed a crash that occurs when opening the social menu with more than 100 friends. As a result we have also limited the friends list visibility to 100. You will remain friends with anyone over 100, but you may not be able to see them if they are offline.
- Fixed crash when opening social menu and having many blocked players and/or friend requests.
- Fixed a crash when minimizing after changing fullscreen mode.
- Fixed rare crash which could occur when picking up equipment.
- Fix a crash when a client interacts with a terminal in a waiting state after host migration.
- Fix a crash related to minefields.
Misc Fixes
- Fix issues with dodge and prone.
- Fix not being able to stand up when wielding the ballistic shield.
- Fixed the Recoilless reload speed.
- Fixed issue where users couldn’t write a description on console when reporting a player.
- Fixes vehicle preview not despawning in Warbonds when quickly scrolling through the catalog.
- Fix Spear not targeting several entities (spawners, compound objects, etc).
- Sentries have a higher destruction value so most explosions do not instantly destroy them regardless of the damage amount.
- Fixed bug where operation progress would be lost when kicked due to inactivity,
- The “Remove Friend” and “Block Player” buttons are now hold-to-confirm instead of a single click.
- Fix bug where dying would try to enter ADS.
- Fix a soft lock if you receive an interact emote while holding a grenade.
- Fix projectile to crosshair inaccuracies in ADS when the player is in different stances
- Fixed broken player model in career tab when on someone else’s ship.
- Adjudicator: fixed incorrect recoil values.
- Fixed armory terminals losing their functionality if the last client player who interacted with them leaves the host’s ship.
- Fix missing localization for flying patrols operation modifiers.
- Fix issue where throwing knives could be left floating in the air.
- Support for non-latin fonts in the game’s install folder path.
- Vehicle skins are now applied to all vehicle variations when equipping directly from Warbonds.
- Fixes flag objectives not properly tracking Helldiver’s position while on a Combat Walker.
- PH-202 Twigsnapper helmet: fixed missing description.
- Fixed the issue where the shuttle would clip through Bile Titans and terrain during landing sequences.
- Improved performance on PS5 when CPU bound
- Fixes FX remaining when destroying Spore Spewer
- Ensure stim vfx remains on screen for the entire duration of the stim effect when med-kit bonus is present.
- Fix for emote receiver players being able to use their weapons during emote animation
- Hellbombs now get called down facing the player, rather than away from the player.
Known Issues
These are issues that were either introduced by this patch and are being worked on, or are from a previous version and have not yet been fixed.
- Sending friend requests via friend code in game currently does not work.
- Players may be unable to be joined or invited to the game.
- Players added to the ‘Recent Players’ list will appear in the middle of the list.
- Players may experience delays in Medals and Super Credits payouts.
- Available Operations are generated again after reconnecting after getting AFK kicked.
- Enemies that bleed out do not progress Personal Orders and Eradicate missions.
- Arc weapons sometimes behave inconsistently and sometimes misfire.
- Most weapons shoot below the crosshair when aiming down the sights.
- Plasma Punisher is unable to shoot out of the shield generators.
- Stratagem beam might attach itself to an enemy but it will deploy to its original location.
- “Hand Carts” ship module does not reduce Shield Generator Pack’s cooldown.
- Bile Titan sometimes does not take damage to the head.
- Charger’s butt does not take damage from explosions.
- Players may become stuck in the Loadout when joining a game in progress.
- Reinforcement may not be available for players who join a game in progress.
- Planet liberation reaches 100% at the end of every Defend mission.
- “Raise Flag of Super Earth” objective does not show a progress bar.
- Mission count in the Career tab is being reset to zero after every game restart.
- Some weapons’ descriptions are out-of-date and don’t reflect their current design.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.